The Eye of the Beholder
by sktrgrl13
Summary: The Lost City of Atlantis - said to hold the secret to wealth, fame and life itself... it is said to be forever unattainable; never to be touched by the hands of man. Until a young boy from North Blue is said to possess the key to its existence... boy x boy


**Disclaimer: I do not own the magnificent One Piece, Oda does… but if I did own it, ZoSan would be cannoned so they wouldn't have to hide in the Galley anymore :P**

**Warnings: Yaoi, Violence, Language **

_The dark damp room pressed upon him like a suffocating blanket. The only thing he could hear was the sound of a constant leak that he could not find, he could barely see what was five feet in front of his face and he could only feel the pain that was inflicted upon his body hourly. He didn't understand what was happening to him, or if he did anything wrong, but he knew that he wanted to fix it. If he had done anything to anger the men behind the metal doors, he wanted to apologize to them so he could go home. He wanted to see his mother again… he wanted to feel her warm embrace and listen to her soothing voice as she told him that everything was going to be alright. He wanted to cry out, ask for help, but his voice was raw from the screams that tore from his throat earlier and he didn't want to risk angering the men all over again. _

_The sound of doors being thrown open broke through the silence and entered his ears. Pain and fear immediately coursed through his broken body causing him to use the only defense he had. The small boy pulled his legs up to his chest and buried his face in his knees just as the door that kept him in his prison was thrown open with a resounding clang that echoed through the base of his skull. He could hear footsteps coming towards him, but he refused to lift his head and look into the eyes of the devil himself._

"_Boy!" His torturer's voice bellowed, "Look me in the eye when I come to see you!"_

_The boy refused to move and inch; blood was drawn from his lip as his teeth had managed to gnaw through it. He grunted as a rough kick was delivered to his side and was too weak to stop himself from falling over. He was able to remain in a ball with his head buried between his knees; his body was shaking uncontrollably from fear, exhaustion and unbearable pain._

"_Don't you want to see your mother?" The man laughed darkly, "She's here you know, we can let you see her if you help us."_

_The boy's head lifted slightly at the mention of his mother and the man smiled maliciously as their eyes met. The man walked forward, grasped the back of the boy's neck and pulled him to his feet. The weak boy stumbled from the sudden weight on his legs, but managed to stay standing. The man put his fingers between his lips and let out a loud whistle that traveled through the open door and echoed throughout the building. After a few tense moments, more footsteps could be heard approaching the room. The boy's heart quickened as fear consumed him again; were more people coming to hurt him?_

"_Where's my baby?!" A woman's voice demanded, "Where is he?!"_

"_Mommy?" The boy's voice cracked as tears gathered in his eyes._

"_Baby?" The woman's voice called, "Baby, is that you?"_

_Before the boy could answer, a woman was standing in the doorway breathing heavily. Her long blonde hair was tangled and matted, but her eyes shone with warmth that promised a better tomorrow. The woman ran into the room and wrapped her arms tightly around the small boy. The boy buried his face into the crook of his mother's neck as he felt happiness for the first time in what felt like centuries. His mom ran her hands through his greasy, blood matted hair as she looked into his eyes._

"_Are you alright?" Her voice broke._

"_I want to go home," The boy sobbed, "I don't know why I'm here! What do they want mommy?"_

"_Listen to me baby," She whispered as she pressed her lips to his forehead, "You can't help them, no matter what happens, you can't help them."_

"_M-Mommy?"_

_He was suddenly yanked from his mother's grip by his hair. A scream of terror erupted from his mother's throat as she tried to reach for him only to have other men pull her away. She continued to struggle so she could get to her beloved son only to hear a cock of a pistol and feel something pressing against the side of her head._

"_Now, you're going to tell us where it is, or we'll blow your mother's brains out," The man holding onto the boy laughed, "What's it going to be?!"_

"_N-No!" The boy sobbed hysterically, "Don't hurt my mommy! I don't know what you want, if you just told me…"_

"_It seems like you made your choice…"_

_Everything happened in slow motion after that. The boy watched in horror as the sound of the trigger vibrated throughout the room. Blood spattered the ground like grotesque artwork and his mother's bright blue eyes started to dull. With the last of her strength she lifted her hand and reached out to her shocked son,_

"_I'm so sorry," Her voice choked, "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you from this fate…"_

"_M-Mommy…"_

"_I will always love you; stay strong Sanji, we'll meet again someday…"_

_Sanji watched as his mother's last breath left her and the bright blue eyes were finally dulled. His heart started to race as what happened finally caught up with him…_

"_NO!"_

_Then, everything went black…_

Sanji shot forward in his hammock covered in a blanket of cold sweat. An uncomfortable pain started to lace through his left eye as it always has after he had that dream… no, flashback. His chest was heaving and his normally controlled hands were trembling even worse than they had after Enel had hit him with his devil fruit powers. The blonde cook glanced around the quiet sleeping quarters to see if he had woken any of his Nakama up. Luffy was still sleeping in his hammock having a snoring contest with Usopp who was right below him. Chopper was curled up into a cute little ball murmuring about sweets and medicines in his sleep. He glanced around for the shitty swordsman when he remembered that the marimo had watch; then again, he was probably sleeping through that too.

Sanji sighed exhaustedly, but pushed himself of his hammock and onto the floor; the cold planks sent chills into the bottom of his feet once again reminding him of his past in North Blue, that not even Zeff knew about. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, the cook pulled on his black slacks, blue stripped shirt, black tie, black jacket and his black shoes. He checked his coat pockets for the comforting presence of his cigarettes and lighter and released a breath he didn't know he was holding until he had the familiar products in his hands. He silently made his way out of the sleeping quarters and into the chill of the late night air. The indigo sky was slowly giving way to the pink and peach hues of dawn as the constellations that littered the night sky started to fade. The blonde leaned against the cold railing of the _Going Merry_ for a few brief moments before he retrieved a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with his signature lighter. He inhaled the comforting smoke and let it gather in his lungs before releasing it into the clean air.

"Oi ero-cook, it's a little early in the morning for that, don't you think?"

_So much for the marimo being asleep_,Sanji thought as he rolled his eyes and took another puff of his cigarette before speaking,

"I can do whatever the hell I want you shitty swordsman and nothing you say is going to stop me."

"Tch," Zoro crossed his arms, "Just curious as to why you're up and about shit cook; it's nowhere near time to start breakfast."

"Aw," Sanji forced a smirk to grace his fine lips, "Be careful Marimo, it almost sounds like you're worried about me."

"It's not just me dartbrow," Zoro growled, "Even Luffy has noticed something's wrong with you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit," The green haired swordsman spat, "You think none of us notice that you're not sleeping at night? Everyone can tell just by looking at those bags under your eyes."

Sanji's left eye twitched from under his fringe at the idiot swordsman's words. He honestly didn't believe that he looked that bad considering that he hasn't had a decent night's sleep in almost two weeks; hell he was even still able to go toe to toe with the Marimo even with sleep deprivation.

"I'm fine Marimo," Sanji sighed as he flicked his burnt out cigarette over the rail, "It's nothing to worry about."

He turned to walk towards the Galley to do some early morning inventory only to have a rough, calloused hand stop him from going anywhere. A series of flutters danced in Sanji's stomach from the contact, but he supressed them. There was no way the green haired swordsman would return his feelings, especially if he found out about what happened in North Blue; Zoro would probably just think he was more fucked up than he already was.

"What are you hiding from us Sanji?" Zoro whispered, "We're your Nakama, we can help you."

The cook flinched at the sound of his name on the swordsman's tongue; he knew that Zoro was trying to be serious whenever he called him by his name. Sanji pried Zoro's hand from his wrist and took a step back to put distance between them. As Zoro's dark eyes stared into his blue one, Sanji could feel himself falling apart from the seams. The blonde sighed before turning his back on the swordsman once more,

"I'm just remembering North Blue," He whispered, "That's all."

"North Blue?" Zoro raised an eyebrow, "That's the sea you're originally from right?"

The blonde cook's hands twitched for another cigarette, but he repressed the urge to smoke. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and headed for the Galley once more. This time he wasn't stopped by the shitty swordsman and was able to reach the door without any interruptions. Before he opened the door to enter he turned so he could look Zoro in the eyes,

"Yeah, so don't worry about it."

The green haired swordsman watched as the Galley door shut behind Sanji's lithe frame. He wanted to accept the ero-cook's answer, but he knew that he wasn't given the whole truth. For when Sanji uttered the words 'North Blue', pain and rigidness swept across his normally graceful manner. The blonde was definitely hiding something and he had a feeling that it was something that Sanji would have to come to terms with soon.

TBC

**My first One Piece fanfiction :) ZoSan for the win! This is my absolute favourite pairing so I really wanted to try and make a fic for them. I know that Zoro and Sanji are terribly OOC and they probably will be throughout this fic no matter how hard I try to fix it. Also, I do know what truly hides under Sanji's mysterious fringe, but I wanted to play with the whole mysteriousness it gave off before the time-skip :P I hope you still enjoy it! Waiting on your reviews :)**

**-sktrgrl**


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